"Pro-choice groups said today that their battle is not over," NBC Nightly News
anchor Tom Brokaw announced on November 10. Reporter Andrea
Mitchell then proceeded to detail the actions of "anti- abortion
activists" and "abortion opponents" in election day referenda
on public abortion funding. "Pro-choice activists," she said,
were "very worried about Bush and Quayle." NBC's story, and its
use of labels to describe the two sides in the abortion debate,
typified network news coverage of the issue during the last four
months of 1988.

Objective reporting dictates that journalists adhere to
balance in their use of labels. For example, use "pro-life" and
"pro-choice," or "anti-abortion" and "pro-abortion," or offer an
equal number of positive and negative labels on each side. But a
MediaWatch study reveals that when it came to stories on abortion, the networks ignore all standards of objectivity.

MediaWatch found 49 stories that included labels. With
87 mentions, the "anti-abortion" tag was used most often by
reporters or anchors, with another 5 references to "abortion
foes." The terms "pro-life" or "right to life" were used only
24 times, less than one-third as often.

How did they label abortion supporters? The networks' were
far more sympathetic. Only once were those groups called
"pro-abortion." Instead, they were called the term they prefer,
"pro-choice," 19 times. Thirteen other times, they were given
euphemistic labels such as "abortion rights advocates," "family
planning advocates" or "birth control advocates." In other
words, the "pro-choice" forces wee designated by their preferred
label 97 percent of the time. The "pro-life" forces were
afforded their desired label only 21 percent of the time.

Some networks were less objective than others. For instance,
NBC used the "anti-abortion" label 17 times, while using the
"pro-life" label just once. When it came to abortion proponents,
htough, NBC reporters dubbed them "pro-choice" three times,
"abortion rights" once, and "family planning advocates" twice.
No one at NBC used the term "pro-abortion." CBS used "pro-life"
labels most often -- 38 percent of the time -- but still gave a
great advantage to abortion supporters, using positive,
euphemistic terms to describe them 92 percent of the time.

Most abortion labels arose in three areas:

1) Judicial Decisions: On Nov. 11, CBS' Rita Braver
informed viewers that a court ruling against federal abortion
funding would please "anti-abortion" activists. Anchor Dan
Rather characterized Roe vs. Wade as the Supreme Court's 15 year
old ruling on "abortion rights." In a Dec. 20 report by NBC's
Jim Miklaszewski, Jack Fowler of the Ad Hoc Committee in Defense
of Life was captioned as an "anti-abortion activist." But in
Andrea Mitchell's Nov. 10 report, pro-abortion spokeswoman Dottie
Lamm was labeled simply as "wife of former governor" Richard
Lamm.

2) Abortion Demonstrators: When pro-lifers taunted Democratic
presidential candidate Michael Dukakis on September 6, the
networks presented the protestors as "anti-abortion activists."
CNN's Tom Mintier called the demonstrators "pro-life," but only
after a lead-in by anchor Bernard Shaw labeled them "anti-
abortion" three times. That same night, NBC's Chris Wallace
outlined the candidates' positions on abortion. Bush, he said,
"opposes abortion," while Dukakis is "pro-choice."

The efforts of Operation Rescue protestors did not go
unnoticed by the networks, but again the labeling favored
abortion advocates. On October 4, NBC's Kenley Jones followed
anchor Tom Brokaw's introduction about the arrest of "anti-abortion
protestors" by remarking that "abortion rights advocates"
believed the demonstrators had little effect. CBS' James Hattori gave
perhaps the most even-handed report on October 29, referring to
the two sides as "pro-life" and "pro-choice."

3) Medical Developments: ABC's George Strait remarked without
irony that an abortifacient pill, opposed by "anti-abortion
groups," could be "a lifesaver" in the Third World. On Sept. 15,
CBS' Susan Spencer characterized the debate over fetal research
as a battle between "science" and the "anti-abortion movement."

A controversial social issue such as abortion demands
even-handed treatment. The networks have proven themselves
incapable of this task. By their biased use of labels to
characterize the two sides of the issue, reporters have unfairly colored
the national debate on abortion.

NewsBites:
Predictable Planetary Panaceas

Predictable Planetary Panaceas. In lieu of the annual "Man of the Year," Time magazine chose "The Endangered Earth" as "The Planet of the Year." Time
Publisher Robert Miller called it an "unorthodox choice." That
may be true, but once chosen, the magazine's approach to their
annual feature was anything but unorthodox -- it was typical.

In almost forty pages titled "What On Earth Are We Doing?" Time
writers reviewed a multitude of liberal concerns, from toxic
waste, fossil fuel pollution, deforestation, endangered species,
the greenhouse effect, and the burgeoning global population
problem.

What are the solutions "earth's vulnerability to man's reckless ways?" Time
dropped all pretense of objectivity, calling upon the U.S. to
implement the usual liberal panaceas: "Raise the Gasoline Tax,"
and "Encourage Debt-for-Nature Swaps." Criticizing the Reagan
Administration for cutting off aid to international agencies that
use abortion, Time demanded the U.S. "immediately restore the aid."

Surprise Verdict on Reaganomics. When Newsweek reviewed Reagan's economic legacy in the December 26 issue, MediaWatch expected
the worst. But the magazine offered a refreshing surprise.
Under the headline of "The Magic of Reaganomics," Chief Economic
Correspondent Rich Thomas asserted that Reagan's "ideas have
helped beat back inflation and produce real growth that for the
past six years has surpassed that of any major nation except
Japan."

After explaining how the theories of Milton Friedman and
determination of John Wayne guided Reagan, Thomas concluded they
"have helped Reagan compile the most impressive peacetime
economic record of any modern President--a legacy of bold
thinking and true grit."

Brady Bags Big Business. The liberal Citizens for Tax Justice
released a report attacking 16 large corporations for not paying
any taxes after the 1986 Tax Reform bill, CBS News reporter Ray
Brady served as it's dutiful mouthpiece.

On the Sept. 22 Evening News, he reviewed some of the
examples and informed people on the street of the study. They
predictably complained about the unfairness. Brady concluded:
"If all the companies in its survey paid the regular corporate tax
rate of 40 percent, the government would have collected an extra $70
billion, enough to put a big dent in that huge federal deficit."

On December 9, The Washington Post published a story on a
survey of 1,000 corporations by Tax Analysts, described as "a
respected tax and information service." The study determined Big
Business paid an average tax rate of 24.72 percent on their
profits in 1987, up from 21.54 percent in 1986. MediaWatch
called Mr. Brady to ask why he ignored the study. He hung up.

A Retail "Ho-ho?" NBC Says "Oh, No!" On December 16,
NBC's Irving R. Levine took a look at Christmas sales. He didn't
like what he found. "Merchants are pulling out all the stops to
head off disaster, including early mark downs and gimmicks," he
warned. "After six years without a recession, and heavy
consumer spending, people are worried about the economy and
prices are higher."

By Christmas Eve Levine realized his dire warning was off the
mark, explaining: "Retailers were saved from a dismal shopping
season by the calendar. This year there were two more shopping
days between Thanksgiving and Christmas than last year." The day
after Christmas Levine estimated sales would probably end up
seven percent from 1987. "Not a boom business," Levine decided.

On January 5 ABC's Peter Jennings described the season as "a
very merry Christmas for the nation's retailers" as "the largest
in the country, Sears, had the biggest month in its 102 year
history." Levine missed that.

Revolving Door: NBC Promotes Cuomo Aide

NBC Promotes Cuomo Aide. NBC News Vice President Tim Russert
is back in Washington again. On Inauguration Day, January 20, he
became Washington Bureau Chief. Russert last worked in
Washington as Chief of Staff to Senator Patrick Moynihan (D-NY)
until 1982 when he moved to New York to serve as counselor to
liberal Governor Mario Cuomo. He jumped to NBC just after the 1984
election, soon gaining responsibility over the content of Today and Nightly News.
NBC News President Michael Gartner is grooming Russert for
bigger things. "After two years at the helm in Washington,"
Gartner announced, "Tim will assume new management
responsibilities in New York."

In another part of Gartner's re-organization of the division
he took over last summer, he put Senior Vice President Tom Ross
in charge of a new strategic planning department. Ross worked
for the Carter Administration as Assistant Secretary of Defense
for Public Affairs.

Voice Change. Just after the new year began Jonathan Larsen became Editor in Chief of the Village Voice, the trendy liberal weekly in New York City. Larsen was Time magazine's Saigon Bureau Chief from 1970-1971 and a Life Senior Editor earlier this decade. He succeeds Martin Gottleib, a New York Times reporter before moving to the Voice in 1986.

Time to Quayle. Vice President Dan Quayle has tapped David Beckwith, a Time correspondent since 1971 (with the exception of three years with Legal Times),
as his Press Secretary. Beckwith covered economics and legal
issues for the magazine until being assigned to the White House a
couple of years ago. He followed the Bush campaign last year.

Reich at Night. CBS Nightwatch viewers got a surprise
when they switched on the show just before New Year's Day. A CBS
News reporter has always filled in when regular host Charlie
Rose took vacation, but not on December 29, 30 and January 2.
CBS selected Robert Reich, who identified himself only as a professor of
political economy at Harvard University.

Over the three early mornings he proceeded to interview
Democratic presidential aspirant Bruce Babbitt, whom he called
"an attractive candidate;" moderated a discussion about Castro's
achievements; and discussed Reagan's record with three liberal
reporters, agreeing Reagan used to have "too simplistic a view
of the Soviet Union." CBS never told viewers Carter appointed
Reich to a high level Federal Trade Commission position, nor did
it reveal he was a key economic adviser to the Dukakis
campaign.

Reporter Admits He's A Marxist

"Eugene V. Debs may be my all-time favorite American and Karl Marx my all-time favorite journalist," former Wall Street Journal and Los Angeles Times reporter A. Kent MacDougall proclaimed recently. In November and December articles for the Monthly Review,
"an independent socialist magazine," he explained that as a
"closet socialist boring unobtrusively from within," he had
little trouble promoting Marxist ideas in his news stories.

How did someone who also wrote articles for the American Socialist and communist Daily Worker
manage this? MacDougall reasoned "that while newspaper owners and
editors don't go out looking for stories that make the capitalist
system look bad, the best don't flinch from running such stories
if they meet mainstream journalistic standards for accuracy and
objectivity."

During his days at the Journal from 1962 to 1972 MacDougal "took full advantage of the latitude Journal
reporters have to pick their own feature story topics and report on
them in depth." MacDougall proudly recalled how he "introduced
readers to the ideas of radical historians, radical
economists...in sympathetic page-one stories."

"I made sure to seek out experts whose opinions I knew in
advance would support my thesis," he boasted, and "sought out
mainstream authorities to confer recognition and respectability
on radical views I sought to popularize."

In 1977 the Times hired MacDougall as a "special
business correspondent" able to pick his own stories. "I lost no
time making it obvious where my sympathies lay," MacDougall
reported, noting that "of the first dozen stories I wrote for
the Times, one profiled the leftist magazine Mother Jones and two others profiled Marxist economists."

In the early 1980's MacDougall got an opportunity to write a
series that offered a Marxist explanation as to "why the United
States is among the least equal of mature capitalist economies."
Times editors nominated it for a Pulitzer Prize. MacDougall left the Times
in 1987 to find a new vehicle for his views: "I picked up a
pension (opposing the system is no reason to pass up an
opportunity to make it work for one) and joined the faculty of
the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of
California, Berkeley" where "tenure gives me the luxury of
coming out of the ideological closet at last."

Castro's 30th

January 1 marked 30 years of communist rule in Cuba, but the
network evening news shows didn't view the anniversary as
anything particularly newsworthy. Not one story was dedicated to
Cuba's political repression. Some network morning shows and
news magazines, however, took notice.

On the anniversary, NBC's Sunday Today rebroadcast
segments of co-host Maria Shriver's trip to Cuba last February.
The essence of her message: while there are problems with Cuba,
Castro has been for the better and has provided for his people:
"Schools, family doctors, hospitals...the level of public services
was remarkable," she gushed, "free education, medicine, and
heavily subsidized housing."

On January 4, CBS This Morning's Harry Smith picked up
on yet another liberal line: the cause of disgruntled exiles
who want reconciliation with Cuba. He did give some airtime to
those who object to a rapprochement with Castro, but sympathized
with liberal exiles: "[These] 30 years have been marked by
limited contact between exiles and their homeland. And for some that
isolation has become unbearable." He went on to feature Maria
Herrera, whose views "last Spring cost her a corner of her home to
a bomb."

Harry Reasoner gave a more balanced assessment on 60 Minutes.
Though he repeated the distorted communist line on "strides in
medicine, education, and housing," Reasoner noted that "over one
million Cubans have fled," and that "many young people are
yearning for a change and a chance to leave." Reasoner also
sought out a prominent Cuban human rights activist to rebut
government claims that it does not hold political prisoners.

ABC's Good Morning America co-host Charles Gibson was the most
willing to raise the horrid side of Castro's communist Cuba. On
January 2, he asked liberal Congressman Robert Torricelli:
"Fidel Castro gave a speech yesterday...It was as hard line as
he's ever been. 'Socialism or Death!' 'Marxist-Leninism or
Death!' Why should we cozy up to somebody like that?"

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